An 80-year-old Catholic brother who sexually abused boys while he was principal of a Gippsland school during the 1970s will serve nine months in jail, after previously receiving suspended sentences for other similar assaults.

Key points:

McNamara, 80, was sentenced to 36 months in jail and will serve nine months of a partially suspended sentence

He pleaded guilty to seven charges of indecent assault while he was in charge of St Paul's Secondary School

The judge called his behaviour shocking and an ongoing trauma to victims